NY Mag: Gowanus Slime

I hear from Jill.Weiskopf over at New York magazine that this week's issue takes a look at the past, present, and future of the area around the Gowanus Canal , otherwise known as the “Gashouse District,” that is home to:

The Contaminants

The industrial plants that lined the canal handled just about every nasty thing that could end up in the water. Certain oily pollutants like coal tar that are customarily measured in parts per million are, in the Gowanus, measured in parts per hundred. Heavy metals like mercury and lead are present; so are PCBs and pesticides.

The Microbes

Cholera, typhoid, typhus, gonorrhea: They’ve all been found in the water. A team of biology professors at New York City College of Technology have also studied a curious white goo oozing along the bottom, which turned out to be a mix of bacteria, protozoans, and various contaminants. The microbes appear to have evolved resistance to the filth, and the scientists have been trying to figure out whether their disease-fighting mechanisms could be adapted for medical use.

See what may lie ahead for the area at http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/topic/57886/